Wilmslow 25 Birkenhead Park 31

WILMSLOW Wolves fell narrowly to their first defeat of the season in North One West.

The lead changed hands three times in nearly 10 minutes of time added on for a plethora of stoppages.

When referee Nick Taylor finally brought proceedings to a close, Park had won by virtue of an 88th-minute try.

There was still time for Wolves to launch one last frantic assault on the Park line but the visitors defended well from a scrum and when play finally broke down that was it.

The Wolves players were devastated by the result even though Park are among the favourites for a quick return to National Three North at the end of the season.

To have beaten them Wilmslow needed to have been a bit more clinical in their play.

Coach Rick Jones said he was disappointed to lose a game that could have been won but he was not dismayed, adding that the side was just not yet sufficiently streetwise and that some of his players were still struggling to get to the required level of fitness to be able to fully concentrate on 80 minutes of intense rugby against the better sides.

Wolves have the potential to develop into a decent outfit if they can reduce their error count, even though they may lack the fire power in the backs that they possessed last season.

Park crossed for their first try after two minutes following an attempt by Wilmslow to offload in midfield went awry.

Bob MacCallum landed a three-pointer from the Park 10-metre line before once again the Wolves discarded the ball and got themselves penalised for Mason to kick a second goal for the visitors.

A big improvement in the Wolves play was rewarded with a second MacCallum penalty and they made pressure pay by winning a scrum five metres out and putting prop Jordan Ayrey over in the corner.

The purple period for Wilmslow was briefly cut short with a third Mason penalty but forwards and backs combined for centre Richard Hughes to cross after 38 minutes, handing Wolves a 16-13 lead at half time.

Two missed penalty kicks to touch enabled Park to counter, with a penalty success being followed by a second Park try.

MacCallum kicked his third, fourth and fifth penalties in a kind of ping-pong game with Mason, who landed another for his side.

The seminal moment came when Wolves were harshly penalised at the breakdown deep in the Park 22.

It opened up the way for Mason to bang the ball back into the Wilmslow half, to win the lineout and to create the final opportunity for Matt Walls to get the winning try.